Henry price ball



(No Model.)

H. P. BALL. BINDING POST FOR ELECTRIC WIRES.

No. 449,307. Patented Mar. 31. 1891.

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HENRY BALL, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO THE EDISON GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BINDING-POST FOR ELECTRIC WIRES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,307, dated March 31, 1891.

Application filed December 16, 1890. Serial No. 374,880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY PRICE BALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brook- 1yn,in thecounty of Kings and State of New '5 York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Connectors or Binding- Posts for Electrical \Vires, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to devices designed for connecting the ends of wires to electrical instruments, cut-outs, or other apparatus; and the object is to produce a c011- nector adapted for use with wires of different sizes and which holds the wires by means I5 of a wedge action, as hereinafter set forth.

The invention consists -of the connectors constructed and arranged as described in the following specification, and as illustrated in the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of the connector with a large wire held in the connector. Fig. 2 is a similar view, with a small wire in the connector. Fig. 3 is a view of the upper part of the connector, looking from beneath. Fig.

2 5 4 is a plan of the lower part of the connector, and Fig. 5 illustrates the application of the connector to the socket of a cut-out.

The connector or binding device consists, essentially, of two parts or members 1 2, held 0 together by means of a screw 3, which passes through an elongated screw-hole 4 in plate 1 and into a screw-hole 5 in plate 2, said hole allowing longitudinal movement of its plate to accommodate larger wires. Across the 5 upper face of the plate 2 is a groove or depression having inclined or beveled edges 6 6. The plate 1, which is made of the same length as the groove just described, is also provided with inclined or beveled ends 7 7 40 the inclination of 6 7 being the same, and the inclination of 6' 7 being the same, although 6 and 7 are preferably of a different inclination from 6' and 7. In practice I have found that it is preferable to incline the sides 6 7 at 5 an angle of forty-five degrees and to incline the sides 6 and 7 at an angle of thirtydegrees, although I do not confine myself to this exact inclination. The nearer the de vice conforms thereto the more perfectly will it embody my improvement.

To join a wire to this connector, the screw is loosened and the wire inserted at the angle,

as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The screw is then driven home and the wire clamped between the inclined side of the groove and the 5 5 corresponding end of the top plate.

One advantageof the construction above described is that the thickness of the connector when in use does not increase in the same ratio as the thickness of the wire used in connection therewith, in view of the fact that the upper plate, instead of being directly raised to accommodate the wire is raised only a fraction of the diameter of the Wire, and is at the same time moved longitudinally away 6 from the wire. \Vith the construction shown, also the upper surface of the top plate or section of the connector will always present an even surface for the head of the screw to bear against, owing to the inclined face 6.

In Fig. 5 two of the connectors are shown on the block 8, which supports the contacts 9 of a cut-out socket. The connector at the left is joined with the central contact and the v connector at the right is joined with the ring terminal of the socket, l0 10 being the circuit-wires.

. Having thus described the invention, what I claim is- 1. Aconnector consisting of a member hav- 8o ing a groove or depression across its face, the sides of the groove being inclined, a second member having inclined or beveled sides corresponding to the inclined sides of the groove, and means for clamping the two members together, substantially as described.

2. Aconnector consisting of a member having a groove across its face, the sides of the groove being inclined at an angle of substantially forty-five and thirty degrees, respect- 9o ively, a second member having inclined or beveled sides corresponding to the inclined sides of the groove, and means for clamping the two members together.

A connector consisting of a member having a groove or depression across its face, the sides of the groove being inclined, a second member having inclined orbeveled sides corresponding to the inclined'sides of the groove, and means for clamping the two members totoo gether, one of said members having longitudinal movement in relation to the other, substantially as described.

4. A connector consisting of a member having a groove across its face, the sides of the groove being inclined,a second member having inclined or beveled sides corresponding to the inclined sides of the groove and having a length equal to the length of the said groove, and means for clamping the two members together, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the metal baseplate connected to or adapted to be connected to an instrument or circuit-terminal, said base-plate having a groove across its face, the 15 side of the groove beinginclined and having a screw-hole, of' a clamping-plate for a wire, the plate having beveled ends and having an elongated screw-hole and a screw passing through said screw-holes, substantially as described. V v

This specification signed and witnessed this 12th day of December, 1890.

HENRY PRICE BALL.

Witnesses:

W. S. ANDREWS, W. S. KELLEY. 

